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Building societies risk losing their reputation as safe havens following the collapse of Dunfermline, Scotland's biggest society, last week.

The mutual, which has 300,000 members, had to be rescued by Nationwide after almost £1 billion in commercial-property loans turned bad.

Kevin Mountford at moneysupermarket.com, the comparison site, said: "It throws into question the long-held belief that building societies are more conservatively managed than banks."

Analysts said the sector remained robust, though there could be more mergers. Principality and West Bromwich are the most vulnerable to being swallowed up by larger rivals, said rating agency Fitch.

Matthew Taylor, building society analyst at Fitch, said these societies tended to have a higher level of "specialist lending", such as investments in commercial, buy-to-let and sub-prime mortgages combined with "weak capital reserves".

One of the biggest concerns when building societies merge is that savers who have accounts with both could lose their protection under